Clipboard King: Assessing The Bengals QB Depth

PART 8 IN A SERIES:

We hear it every year at this time, the backup quarterback is one of the most important positions on the roster.  Whether it is or not is a debate for another time, but it’s under the microscope now more than ever as teams try to justify how many resources, or in some cases how few, they’ve committed to the position….and you hear reports of young QB’s who are just “killing it” in their mini-camps.

The position can either be rendered completely irrelevant: Jim Sorgi never getting his uniform dirty in meaningful situations backing up Peyton Manning from 2004 – 2010.  Or franchise altering: The Colts never addressing the position appropriately, team goes 2-14 without Manning in 2011, total housecleaning, first pick, Manning moves on, Andrew Luck now in place. 

I thought it would be interesting to take a look at every team’s backup situation.  These aren’t grades, just an overall look at the total sum of each team’s outlook if their starter were to go down.  I’ll consider the immediate situation and the longer-term picture.

I’ll go in order of my NFL Power Rankings 1.0, published May 10th.

Today, the Cincinnati Bengals:

Starter: Andy Dalton (2nd year)

Projected Backup: Bruce Gradkowski (7th year)

For a team that has as talented a young roster as the Bengals do, they sure have’t invested much to insure their QB depth behind Dalton.  Gradkowski has been with 4 teams now…. for a reason.  He showed flashes of potential when he played in 13 games as a rookie in Tampa, but the real truth lies in the numbers: 21/24   TD to INT ratio, and a career QB rating of 65.  He’s not good.  Besides that he’s had some injury issues.  The Bengals better hope Dalton takes every snap this year.

Verdict: Below Average Journeyman

Projected 3rd QB:  Zac Robinson???? (3rd year)

The question marks are not a typo.  Let’s see…. Waived by the Patriots, Seahawks and Lions already in his short career.  This guy couldn’t even stick on a practice squad?  He put up a bunch of inflated numbers at Oklahoma State, but simply doesn’t have the arm talent to succeed in the NFL. Still…. he’s better than Tyler Hansen, the rookie UDFA out of Colorado.  He was a bad college QB.  He’ll be lucky to stick on the 90-man roster past the first preseason game.

Verdict:  Scary Situation

Summary:

Up until the last couple of years the Bengals have never been accused of being….. smart.  But after a couple of outstanding drafts they’ve amassed some of the best young talent in the league, led by the extremely solid Dalton.  But if he should get hurt, or suffer at all from the dreaded Sophomore Jinx/Slump, the Bengals are screwed.  Of all the teams I’ve evaluated in this series, this is the worst backup QB situation in the league, and it still may be when I’ve done all 32 teams.  If Cincinnati truly views themselves as a playoff contender, they would be wise to address this situation.  This would be an ideal landing spot for Colt McCoy.  He and Dalton are nearly identical physically, and he’d be a perfect fit for Jay Gruden’s offense, which is essentially what he was running in Cleveland.  

Wait… sounds like a whole new post by itself.  Opening a new window now… beginning to type………

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